CO2 Bubble-Assisted Pt Exposure in PtFeNi Porous Film for High-Performance Zinc-Air Battery

Fine-tuning the exposed active sites of platinum group metal (PGM)-based materials is an efficient way to improve their electrocatalytic performance toward large-scale applications in renewable energy devices such as Zn-air batteries (ZABs). However, traditional synthetic methods trade off durability for the high activity of PGM-based catalysts. Herein, a novel dynamic CO2-bubble template (DCBT) approach was established to electrochemically fine-tuning the exposed Pt active sites in PtFeNi (PFN) porous films (PFs). Particularly, CO2 bubbles were intentionally generated as gas-phase templates by methanol electrooxidation. The generation, adsorption, residing, and desorption of CO2 bubbles on the surface of PFN alloys were explored and controlled by adjusting the frequency of applied triangular-wave voltage. Thereby, the surface morphology and Pt exposure of PFN PFs were controllably regulated by tuning the surface coverage of CO2 bubbles. Consequently, the Pt1.1%Fe8.8%Ni PF with homogeneous nanoporous structure and sufficiently exposed Pt active sites was obtained, showing preeminent activities with a half-wave potential (E-1/2) of 0.87 V and onset overpotential (eta(onset)) of 288 mV at 10 mA cm(-2) for oxygen reduction and evolution reactions (ORR and OER), respectively, at an ultralow Pt loading of 0.01 mg cm(-2). When tested in ZABs, a high power density of 175.0 mW cm(-2) and a narrow voltage gap of 0.64 V were achieved for the long cycling tests over 500 h (750 cycles), indicating that the proposed approach can efficiently improve the activity of PGM catalysts by fine-tuning the microstructure without compromising the durability.

Automated summary

The novel dynamic CO2-bubble template approach was able to electrochemically fine-tune the exposed Pt active sites in PtFeNi porous films, leading to improved activity for oxygen reduction and evolution reactions. This method achieved high power density and durability in Zn-air batteries, demonstrating the efficiency of microstructure tuning for enhancing PGM catalyst activity.